Back to my bodyguard.  Yesterday I received an E-mail from the mother of another Air Force warrior named Audrey. 

"I read your blog - daily- and have fun at your site (though, I'm not a blogger). I noticed the change in your banner and wondered, "Does he know Vanessa or did he grab the photo from the net?"  Our daughter graduated BMT San Antonio w/her. Just wondering....? Could you find time to answer this question."

Thanks,
Joyce Hughes (Audrey's mom)

What are the odds?  I just checked, and last month I had 21,570 unique address hits.  Now, 21,570 people is a lot of people, but out of 300 million?  .00072% of the U.S population?  I answered Joyce immediately ... and she sent this :

We met Vanessa at BMT graduation, Oct. 2001. We could hardly believe someone so sweet had chosen such a high risk, demanding job. She looked exactly like the photo. We haven't met her parents, but I'm sure they're as proud of her as we are of our daughter. ....  I'll include the link to who Vanessa is per your request. And yes, guts, beauty and duty effectively describes her and our daughter alike. 'Good to know people like yourself are out there who respect our dedicated military.  Thanks for the response to my email.  http://www.af.mil/news/airman/1103/gunssb1.html

My bodyguard is Airman 1st Class Vanessa Dobos, "  ... the Air Force’s first female aerial gunner."  I explained to Joyce that I came across that picture some time ago, and posted it once before.  Obviously, I just love it, because it says to me "This is real America."  Even better that she's a girl gunner .. Guts,  Beauty and Duty!   And Joyce, while it's not always apparent ( thanks to our MSM), the overwhelming number of Americans respect, and are thankful for our dedicated military. Even some Democrats.